The last few weeks of the CFL season are usually 'playing for nothing but pride' time, but this year has actually had one of the more compelling playoff races in recent years.
Maybe it's just because both teams started off so bad. Maybe it's because the talent pool is pretty lousy this year. But both the Edmonton Eskimos and BC Lions have been hot lately--the Esks have won 5 of 6 and the Lions 4 of 6, with both of their losses coming in overtime.
Showing posts with label BC Lions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BC Lions. Show all posts
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Holy hell, the Lions cut Casey Printers
Well this is an interesting turn of events. After putting Casey Printers in for no reason on Monday against the Bombers, Wally Buono turned on a dime on the heels of an overtime pick-six to give Casey a proper send-off.
Not the way you want your CFL career to (likely) end. Video at 7:13 here, with bonus Rod Black screaming and yelling.
It's not quite leaving him behind in the parking lot, never to bring him back, but a few years ago, Wally Buono had an eye for all kinds of quarterback talent. He had brought in Casey Printers (first-time Casey Printers. MOP Casey Printers) and Buck Pierce and Jarious Jackson, all of whom had success throwing to one of the most complete receiving corps we've seen. Jason Clermont is gone. So is Ryan Thelwell. Geroy Simon is at the twilight of his career.
Addition by subtraction. Printers #2 was a selling point for fans. I still dream of yelling "NOOOOOOOOO" when Printers #2 put up that ball on 2nd and goal in that overtime game against Saskatchewan while on the run, throwing across his body.
For better or for worse, this team is now Travis Lulay's. The Lions are still in a good spot to make the playoffs, a game up on Edmonton and Winnipeg, but it's clear that from here on out, the Lions will be in a rebuilding period, hopefully culminating with Wally Buono stepping down at the end of the year.
If anything, the failed Printers #2 experiment has proved to the Vancouver media that Wally is not infallible and that packing your team full of evangelical Christians is not always good from a football perspective.
Not the way you want your CFL career to (likely) end. Video at 7:13 here, with bonus Rod Black screaming and yelling.
It's not quite leaving him behind in the parking lot, never to bring him back, but a few years ago, Wally Buono had an eye for all kinds of quarterback talent. He had brought in Casey Printers (first-time Casey Printers. MOP Casey Printers) and Buck Pierce and Jarious Jackson, all of whom had success throwing to one of the most complete receiving corps we've seen. Jason Clermont is gone. So is Ryan Thelwell. Geroy Simon is at the twilight of his career.
Addition by subtraction. Printers #2 was a selling point for fans. I still dream of yelling "NOOOOOOOOO" when Printers #2 put up that ball on 2nd and goal in that overtime game against Saskatchewan while on the run, throwing across his body.
For better or for worse, this team is now Travis Lulay's. The Lions are still in a good spot to make the playoffs, a game up on Edmonton and Winnipeg, but it's clear that from here on out, the Lions will be in a rebuilding period, hopefully culminating with Wally Buono stepping down at the end of the year.
If anything, the failed Printers #2 experiment has proved to the Vancouver media that Wally is not infallible and that packing your team full of evangelical Christians is not always good from a football perspective.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
News and notes this Tuesday
-There are two big hockey stories to look at today. The fallout has evened out from yesterday's shocking, absolutely shocking revelation that Roberto Luongo would step down as Captain of the Vancouver Canucks. Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun does a nice job of arguing that Henrik Sedin should replace him. Over at The Hockey Writers, I argue the same point with the grace and maturity of the comments of the MacIntyre column.
-Then there is Sheldon Souray. His orange highness Steve Tambellini told the media that Sheldon Souray would not come to training camp. Souray's only fault, it seemed, was criticizing team management. And going minus-19 in just 37 games played.
-Speaking of Edmonton baggage, Eric Tillman has officially been named General Manager of the Eskimos. The TSN story does not skimp out on the details in the fourth paragraph of that story. Tillman is generally credited with building the current version of the Roughriders and winning that team's first Grey Cup since 1989, restoring the glory that team never had. He scouted and signed Darian Durant, Weston Dressler and Rob Bagg.
Even though he tried to hump the babysitter, Tillman and the Eskimos have drawn pretty well zero criticism through this union of geeky-faced football experts and football teams with names coming from derogatory Inuit slang.
-BC signed Ricky Foley last night. Then they didn't finalize it, but then they did today. BC has won two straight. Saskatchewan have lost 2 of 3 and Rider fans are scared. Will there be a home playoff game in pouring, pouring, despicable rain in November at Empire Stadium? Oh God I hope so.
*UPDATE* It appears that Ricky Foley has actually signed with Toronto, the rat bastard, or as Cam Cole put it on Twitter, owner David Braley "successfully outbidding himself for services of prized pass rusher."
-Defensive Player of the Week:
-Some MLS team somewhere in Canada fired their coach/manager. Never trust a guy with one first name.
-From the "Darryl Sutter is still insane" files, James Mirtle reports that Calgary tried to sign Vesa Toskala this summer. No word on whether Toskala turned the contract down because he could not in good conscience work for somebody dumb enough to sign him.
--
I'll return to a full-day of posting on Friday, where I will get some CFL previews running.
-Then there is Sheldon Souray. His orange highness Steve Tambellini told the media that Sheldon Souray would not come to training camp. Souray's only fault, it seemed, was criticizing team management. And going minus-19 in just 37 games played.
-Speaking of Edmonton baggage, Eric Tillman has officially been named General Manager of the Eskimos. The TSN story does not skimp out on the details in the fourth paragraph of that story. Tillman is generally credited with building the current version of the Roughriders and winning that team's first Grey Cup since 1989, restoring the glory that team never had. He scouted and signed Darian Durant, Weston Dressler and Rob Bagg.
Even though he tried to hump the babysitter, Tillman and the Eskimos have drawn pretty well zero criticism through this union of geeky-faced football experts and football teams with names coming from derogatory Inuit slang.
-BC signed Ricky Foley last night. Then they didn't finalize it, but then they did today. BC has won two straight. Saskatchewan have lost 2 of 3 and Rider fans are scared. Will there be a home playoff game in pouring, pouring, despicable rain in November at Empire Stadium? Oh God I hope so.
*UPDATE* It appears that Ricky Foley has actually signed with Toronto, the rat bastard, or as Cam Cole put it on Twitter, owner David Braley "successfully outbidding himself for services of prized pass rusher."
-Defensive Player of the Week:
-Some MLS team somewhere in Canada fired their coach/manager. Never trust a guy with one first name.
-From the "Darryl Sutter is still insane" files, James Mirtle reports that Calgary tried to sign Vesa Toskala this summer. No word on whether Toskala turned the contract down because he could not in good conscience work for somebody dumb enough to sign him.
--
I'll return to a full-day of posting on Friday, where I will get some CFL previews running.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Headlines to begin your September
-Canadian Interuniversity Sport football season kicked off last night, and we begin with an upset. Number 10 McMaster beat defending Vanier Cup champ Queen's 23-18 in what was, by all accounts, a thrilling game that featured one of the craziest plays we'll see all year, a 101-yard kick return by McMaster's Michael DiCore. Meanwhile, in a less publicized game, the GeeGees beat Windsor 23-14.
-The Canadian Journalism Project, jsource, drops a mention on the Toronto Sun/Pension Plan Puppets issue, which has miraculously made it two weeks without anybody ever having given it the suffix 'gate'. They linked back to a story where they criticized the Toronto Star for avoiding accreditation as well.
-Jose Bautista closes in on George Bell's 47 with his 43rd home run as the Blue Jays crushed theDevil Rays 13-5. The Jays put up a 10-spot in the sixth, but you probably didn't see that, because you probably didn't have Sportsnet One. You probably won't watch the Blue Jays today either, because you probably don't have Sportsnet One.
-In Cincinnati Red-land, Cuban Aroldis Chapman hit 103 mph on the radar gun in his Major League Debut. This somehow affects Toronto native, Joey Votto, who still leads the Major Leagues in OPS. The Reds are seven games up on the Cardinals and look to be a shoo-in for the playoffs.
-BC Lions defensive back and all-around CFL good guy Davis Sanchez will donate his game cheque from this week to the Tony Proudfoot foundation for ALS reserach. For a primer on the former Alouette diagnosed with ALS, here's a Bruce Arthur column from two weeks ago on the subject.
-Finally, the Canadian basketball team dropped their fourth straight at the FIBA World Championship with a 71-61 loss to New Zealand. You may have missed my ivory tower hemming and hawing from last night, which chronicled Canada's struggles in the fourth quarter. At least in this morning's game, they looked
-The Canadian Journalism Project, jsource, drops a mention on the Toronto Sun/Pension Plan Puppets issue, which has miraculously made it two weeks without anybody ever having given it the suffix 'gate'. They linked back to a story where they criticized the Toronto Star for avoiding accreditation as well.
-Jose Bautista closes in on George Bell's 47 with his 43rd home run as the Blue Jays crushed the
-In Cincinnati Red-land, Cuban Aroldis Chapman hit 103 mph on the radar gun in his Major League Debut. This somehow affects Toronto native, Joey Votto, who still leads the Major Leagues in OPS. The Reds are seven games up on the Cardinals and look to be a shoo-in for the playoffs.
-BC Lions defensive back and all-around CFL good guy Davis Sanchez will donate his game cheque from this week to the Tony Proudfoot foundation for ALS reserach. For a primer on the former Alouette diagnosed with ALS, here's a Bruce Arthur column from two weeks ago on the subject.
-Finally, the Canadian basketball team dropped their fourth straight at the FIBA World Championship with a 71-61 loss to New Zealand. You may have missed my ivory tower hemming and hawing from last night, which chronicled Canada's struggles in the fourth quarter. At least in this morning's game, they looked
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